It is not clear what 29-year-old Ms Nuraini was doing when she fell from the five-room flat at about 10am.

Luckily, she managed to grab hold of the laundry rack of the flat immediately below and her screams for help attracted the attention of neighbours on the 11th floor.

Neighbour Louis Chan told The New Paper (TNP) that his wife had been sleeping in the master bedroom when she heard the shouts for 'tolong' (meaning help in Malay).

She looked out of the window and saw the maid hanging onto the pole supports above the flat.

She called Mr Chan to come and help save the maid, and he tried to support her by pushing one foot up. According to TNP, the maid's female employer is believed to have been supporting her as well from the 12th floor.

However, the maid soon lost her grip and she fell to dangle head-first and for about five terrifying minutes. Mr Chan's grip was the only thing preventing her from falling to her death.

During that time, Mr Chan's wife went to ask for the help of their 11th floor neighbours, the Ongs.

Mrs Ong told TNP that her husband immediately went to help Mr Chan while she called the ambulance and the police. Another unnamed male neighbour also went to help pull up the maid.

However, the combined strength of the three men was not enough to pull the maid back into the flat, but they did succeed in swinging her back onto the ledge.

Later, the maid passed out due to fear and exhaustion, making it near impossible for them to haul her back in. They were left with no choice but to hang on to her arm and leg until the civil defence officers arrived.

Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) officers pulled Ms Nuraini over the ledge and she was sent to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital with stomach and neck pains.

The maid is believed to have been working there for less than a month. Her employers, who declined to be named, are a couple in their 40s with four children. An elderly woman in her 70s lives with them.